April 20th, 2023 — The climate impact from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is massive, with air conditioning alone accounting for roughly 4% of global emissions, almost double the emissions from the aviation industry. As the world becomes warmer and more humid, the energy demand from air conditioners is expected to triple by 2050. Given the ubiquity of HVAC systems, HVAC also presents a significant investment opportunity, with over $120B spent on HVAC in the US in 2022 alone.
New HVAC models are much more energy efficient and cost effective to operate than legacy models. However, in order to realize these savings and climate benefits, the real estate industry will need tools that empower stakeholders to perform robust lifecycle management, capital planning, and energy modeling across large portfolios. To do this accurately, the industry will need detailed, real-time asset-level data, but maintaining that data is both time consuming and expensive, especially at the enterprise scale.
Specifx Data Inc. (Specifx) uses proprietary technology to efficiently provide enterprise customers including large real estate services companies with essential asset-level HVAC data and insights, thereby unlocking applications and solutions for robust lifecycle planning, portfolio-level decarbonization initiatives, compliance reporting, and more. By empowering customers with high-quality data and analytics, Specifx is positioned to play a critical role in helping leading real estate companies meet their ambitious building decarbonization goals.
HVAC presents a massive economic and decarbonization opportunity
Globally, HVAC systems account for 47% of the energy consumption of public and commercial real estate, and are therefore a significant driver of operating expenditures and emissions from buildings.
In order to optimize the long-term costs associated with HVAC systems while reducing emissions, building owners conduct planning analyses to weigh the tradeoffs between capital replacement costs and operating costs, which require detailed asset-level energy modeling to fully understand both the costs and emissions profiles of these HVAC assets.
The costs and opportunities associated with HVAC will scale as the built environment grows, with estimates indicating that the global building floor area will double by 2060.
Accurate asset-level HVAC data is key to realizing this opportunity in large portfolios
Currently, there are no tools to automate the collection of asset-level HVAC data across large portfolios of buildings: each asset must be manually audited, which is time consuming and expensive.
Some case studies indicate that up to 40% of the HVAC data in Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) is inaccurate or incomplete, and existing capital planning and energy modeling solutions for buildings rely on these incomplete data sets and assumptions. This results in inaccurate and insufficient analyses.
Specifx enables enterprise customers to obtain and analyze accurate asset-level HVAC data at scale
Specifx’s platform consists of four modules that significantly reduce the time and costs associated with collecting and analyzing asset-level HVAC data: Decoder, Scout, Planner, and E-Modeler.
Decoder, the core module and initial product, allows users to input manufacturer, model, and serial number information from a given HVAC asset and extracts over 40 data attributes associated with that asset, including specifications, features, and performance levels, while automatically correcting errors in the inputs. Decoder customers can also upload assets in batches, a unique feature allowing users to quickly process large HVAC portfolios.
The other three modules leverage Decoder’s capabilities by enabling dynamic facility auditing, as well as robust capital planning and energy consumption analyses.
Specifx is also developing an API that will enable third-party applications to leverage their data.
Powerhouse Ventures is proud to lead Specifx’s $3.5M Seed round with participation from Better Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Soma Capital, and SaaS Ventures. We look forward to working with CEO Ryan Martineau, CPO Pete Shimkus, COO Ellie Crowley, CDO Ben Patch, and the entire Specifx team as they enable decarbonization in the built environment.
Special thanks to Marie Thompson, Gabriel VanLoozen, and Sam Wohlforth.
To read more about our work at Powerhouse and Powerhouse Ventures, visit our Insights page.